It’s interesting how life comes full circle. The last time I wrote here was in 2018, during another season of unemployment. Back then, I was reflecting on personal mistakes and lessons learned. This time, the circumstances are different. My recent layoff wasn’t performance-related - it was the result of a macroeconomic trend many of us are now facing: “The Great Flattening.”
The Great Flattening is the corporate strategy of cutting layers of middle management to create leaner organizations and reduce headcount. Efficiency replaces mentorship, automation replaces accountability, and leadership layers once considered essential are being phased out. My role as Director of Recruitment Marketing was one of those casualties.
The Servant Leader's Dilemma
When I stepped into my Director role, I promised my team I would lead with a servant mindset. Inspired by Twelve Ordinary Men by John MacArthur, I told them I’d lead like the apostle Andrew, not Peter. Andrew led in an inconspicuous manner, he labored quietly in humble places. As it says in Ephesians 6:6 'not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.' I told my team I would empower them and help them grow into true subject matter experts. And I did just that. I was constantly working behind the scenes, pulling strings, prompting, giving direction, and setting up sessions to help them find solutions and optimizations. I truly believed that if I empowered my team, our collective success would speak for itself and, by extension, reflect on me.
And it worked - just not in the way I expected. Our recruitment marketing and programmatic advertising strategies delivered measurable ROI: millions of job ad clicks, hundreds of thousands of applications, and millions in cost savings. The success of the team was celebrated, but the credit for wins went to individual team members. This led to a situation where I started to get bypassed, my role's value became less visible, and I was viewed as a redundant layer of management. The hard lesson: God saw my behind-the-scenes work, but the corporate structure didn’t. The very principles of servant leadership I applied clashed with the professional reality that in a hierarchical corporate structure, it’s about who you consistently see.
Learning to Be Visibly Relevant
The hard truth I’ve learned is this: servant leadership doesn’t mean disappearing. It means being actively and consistently involved in a way that is seen - not to get the credit, but to stay relevant and connected to the work. It’s about being visibly present and vocally engaged, while still empowering your team through mentoring and coaching. I now know that you must balance the spiritual principle seen in Mark 9:35 with the professional reality of consistently demonstrating value to executives, stakeholders, and clients.
A Renewed Purpose
This is the key takeaway for my next role: To thrive in this new era of AI, automation, and flattened hierarchies, I must be both servant-hearted and strategically visible to VP and C-suite leadership. That’s how I intend to grow, in both career and calling.
I’m not content with unemployment. The difference from 2018 is that now I have a son with autism, a mortgage, and responsibilities. But I’m also not afraid. God has been faithful in the past, and I believe He’s using this season to sharpen me as a leader. My prayer now is not just for a new job, but for the wisdom to apply these lessons - to be a servant leader who is also visibly present and relevant, all for the glory of God.
If you’ve faced similar challenges, I’d love to hear your perspective. How do you balance empowering others with making sure your own contributions remain visible?
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